Getting to Know Each Other Better
by Emiliana
Summary: Harry/Ginny-- Dean tells everyone he and Ginny are involved (which isn't true!) and it's up to Harry to help her-- later on, he'll also have to help her deal with her nightmeres about Tom --romance coming later on
1. how it all began

Author's Disclaimers: I don't own any of the following characters... (unfortunately), and I'm just borrowing them for a little while, so please don't sue me... no offence is meant when using them.

Author's Notes: first of all, I want to thank my sister Camilla for always supporting me, and then some other friends that patiently reviewed this and honestly told me their opinion... thanks... love ya guys!

Author's notes 2:

Alright, this story hasn't got a proper beginning... I know, I know...

I just needed to to this, because otherwise I'd have spoiled the story.

In a few words, though: this is Harry/Ginny, and it's rated as "general" for now,

since it only includes hints and references to romance... maybe there will be more later on J

(this means, more chapters to come!!)

Plus, there could be some Tom appearances (in dreams, mostly) and/or Draco appearances (since I love the boy!)

Please let me know if it sucks, or anything... R&R most appreciated!

IMPORTANT: Please, keep in mind that I'm Italian, so I've probably made a lot of mistakes, and I apologize for that... reviews are always accepted, good or bad, as long as they're respectful. J

He just stared at her, open-mouthed, as if she'd just grown a second head. 

"What?" she asked, noticing the surprise in his eyes.

"I –nothing. It ain't probably none of my business." She wanted to slap him. Had she known what she'd done wrong, she'd have explained to him. But he'd shut his mouth, and looked like he didn't want to talk about it.

"Come on, tell me..." she tried to get him to tell her what was wrong. "What's the problem?"

He swallowed. "I was just... you know, wondering, if what Lavender said a few minutes ago in the Common Room was... well.."

"Was what?"

"Well... true." He blurted out. Great. She still didn't know what all that fuss was about. When she spoke again, her voice was soft and soothing, as if se were addressing a five-year-old child.

"And *what*, if I may ask, did Lavender say ten minutes ago in the Common Room?"

"Well... oh Merlin, I don't think I should be the one telling you this...."

She eventually lost her temper.

"Harry, with all my respect, if you don't tell me what you're talking about, I won't understand why you're so friggin' staring at me like that, as if I were a monster! So come on, now, tell me..."

He took a deep breath and, keeping his eyes on the floor, he slowly said.

"Well, she said that you... and... and Dean Thomas..."

"Oh, *that*." she sighed with relief. Such a fuss about such a stupid thing! "Oh, but there's no need to.. I mean, I can explain, I-"

"So it's true...?" He suddenly looked directly at her, as if he couldn't believe his ears. 

"Yes, it is. But I can--"

"I- I really can't believe you could do something like that, I don't know what to think...."

"Oh, but... I know I probably shouldn't have done that straight away, but... Well, I didn't want to hurt his feelings, and..." She paused for a moment. "...there's no easy way to say it... well, he invited me to go have a walk in the park, and... he told me he was kind of interested in me, so I HAD to do it."

Harry looked as pale as the handkerchief she was holding in her hand.

"You alright, Harry?" she asked, a bit worried, taking a step towards him. "I thought you all would understand..."

Harry shook his head. "Ginny, I –I thought I knew you, even if... well..."

"Harry..." she said, carefully avoiding his eyes now. "You know I had to do it, I cannot believe you haven't figured it out yet. *You*, of all people! But then again, I think even Malfoy, with his twisted mind, would see why I *had* to turn him down."

Harry glanced up from the floor. "You mean, *laying* him down..."

She looked at him, confused. "What are you talking about? What do you mean?"

Harry cleared his throat, but she interrupted him. 

"By Merlin's sake, Harry! I couldn't become her girlfriend!  I *had* to tell him I didn't want to be with him, I had to refuse him! I know it was probably selfish –I can see it now, I probably hurt his feelings and I know he's a friend of yours... but I couldn't lie to him! Why can't you understand?"

Her eyes were a bit shiny with tears now. Harry, on the other hand, was caught completely off guard.

"You, you turned him down?" he asked hesitatingly. 

"Of course I did!"

Harry styarted babbling: "Well, Lavender, she said Dean told her that you had... that you, you know... with him... in the forest... yesterday..."

When Ginny finally realized what Harry meant, she jumped up in surprise, dropping her handkerchief.

"W –what? He told you we did.. WHAT?!?"

Harry now was staring inetently at her. 

"You mean you didn't...?"

"NO!" she screamed, a bit louder than she'd meant to. "I would never, *ever* do a thing like that. Especially with him, and... how... how could *anyone* believe I did?"

Harry's cheeks turned of a darker shade of pink. "I –I knew it couldn't be, but... you weren't anywhere to be found, neither yesterday nor today..."

"That's because yesterday I wanted to be alone with him to explain him exactly WHY I couldn't be her girlfriend, and then because I needed some... time to think."

Harry let out a sigh of relief.

"You –you believe me, right?"

"Yes. Yes, I do." He finally said, matter-of-factly.

Then all energies seemed to leave her body, and she felt so weak... She'd tried not to hurt Dean's feelings, and all he'd given her in return was... telling Lavender they'd made out –or Merlin knew what else– in  the forest. How could he... how DARE he... just because she'd turned him down?  Plus, since she knew Lavender well, by now she'd probably told it to the WHOLE school... But, most of all, how could they BELIEVE she'd do something like that?  

Then again, all pieces seemed to fit. They'd begun to spend time alone with each other... talking, right, but Dean could've easily said they were actually making out, or something... What would Harry think of her now?

Horrified, she felt a mix of emotions –fear, sorrow, anger– building up within her, until she knew she couldn't hold it anymore. 

She burst into tears and ran to her room, sobbing. 

Harry was left there, more surprised that he was before. How could he possibly have believed Lavender? He kicked himself mentally, then he decided he needed some time to think, to sort things out. He was about to back to his own room, when he spotted her handkerchief on the floor. He picked it up, deciding it would be better if he waited before giving it back to her. 

Still, he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened, and he realized he was feeling quite angry with Dean. He felt like smacking his head with an axe... strangling him with his bare hands would do, too. He tried to cool down, but fopund out he just couldn't.

He looked down at the white handkerchief in his hand, with Ginny initials knitted on it. Suddenly he made a decision.

He ran to the Common Room, where Dean was surrounded by a crowd of people curious about his "little adventure".... including Ron.

He set his jaw and marched up to him.

Dean turned around just in time to hear a "whoosh!" directed his way. He felt an explosion of pain and found himself on the floor, blood streaming down his mouth, his jaw hurting like hell.  He'd just been punched! "Hey.. what..?"

Harry was towring above him, his fists clenched.

"You deserved it, you---! Do again a thing like that to Ginny and I swear I-"

"Oh, Are we a bit jealous?" he smirked.

"No" he slowly said. "I meant lying. You didn't do anything with her yesterday. You just couldn't get over the fact that she was dumping you..."

Everyone was on full attention now.

"You liar..." Dean began to say.

"She's my best friend's sister, and I won't let you get away with it. Now you you tell everyone the truth."

"Or else?"

"Or else I kick you to death"

"Oh, I'm *so* scared..."

A lot of students though seemed to come to their senses. Ron was the first. 

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!?" he roared. He was a good friend of Dean's, and he didn't mind the idea of Ginny getting Harry out of her head, once and for all... but this wasn't at all what he'd meant.

Now that they were 10 vs. 1, Dean found himself swallowing hard.

"She... she was so damn stubborn! By Merlin's beard, she's in sixth year! How can she still be drooling after Potter?" Harry stopped dead.  He glared at Dean, who was standing up, shaking.

"You're not even worth punching, you know that? Just one thing before I leave you to Ron..." He turned to Ron, and a  flash of understanding flickered in the two friend's eyes.

"You do that again, I'll *kill* you." 

And with that, he slowly turned around and walked away. Once hidden from view, he stopped, and took a deep breath. He was sweating. 

He quickly decided he'd better give the handkerchief back to her now. Maybe she needed it...

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Alright, what do you think?

A/N: I tried to remove all the americanisms (sorry!), so please tell me if there are any left...

My apologizes for the name "Lavanda"... it's just that in Italian that's her name, not "Lavender"... should've remembered to change it into english.. J


	2. friends? or i spoiled it all?

A/N: Before reading this new chapter, you probably need to know a few things... 

1) Now you have (hopefully) figured out what happened with Ginny, Dean and Lavender... the true reason why I didn't write it from the beginning is this: if I wanted to do things right, I probably would've had to write lots and lots (well, at least a couple) of chapters explaining why Ginny had gotten closer to Dean, and the whole development of their friendship... and it honestly would have bored me and, I think, the readers. So I took it as a fact, and I must ask you to do the same, as annoying as it may be...

2) Anyways, for those who haven't...

_Ginny, in a desperate attempt to get Harry out of her mind (and heart), tried to make new friends... starting with Colin, Neville, and eventually Dean, etc. _

_She and Dean got closer, andbecame really close friends, but nothing more than that, at least, from Ginny's point of view._

_Dean is not a bad person, and he  naturally started to feel something for Ginny... and when she turned him down, he felt rejected. Plus, hearing the reason why she didn't want to be with him (something like "I'm sorry, Dean, but I still am not over Harry...") had gotten him furious. He couldn't believe she still liked him (Harry), even though he took no notice of her. He (Dean) couldn't understand it. So he grew angry, and told Lavender that he and Ginny had done "something" in the forest, knowing that by a few hours' time, the whole school would know. Including Harry Potter._

_And that's exactly what happened. At least, all the Gryffindors know._[Let's leave the Slytherins out of this, I think it's better.. ;-)]

3) One last thing... the point of view of the narrator shifts from Harry to Ginny alternatively, so I hope it isn't too difficult to follow...

Anyways, back to the new chapter... here it goes. (Thanks a lot to those who reviewed!)

Chapter 2

When he knocked at the door, she was still crying.

"Ginny.... it's me. Let me in"

"Go away, Harry", she answered after a few moments.

"No." He said, matter-of-factly, "I'm going to enter now, so I hope you're decent."

She got up abruptly, but he'd already entered.

"Guys are not allowed in the girls' dorm..." she protested, but he hushed her.

"I came here to apologize."

"For what?"

"For believing such a stupid thing about you..."

"Oh.." she felt weak. "I- I din't mean to say those things to you. You were really the only one who listened to me..."

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you again." She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, right. And who'll believe me? Unless he admits he made it all up, there's no way I-"

".. already took care of that." Her eyes grew wide.

"What?"

"Well, I—I sort of.."

"_Harry_!" she interrupted him. "You're hand's bleeding!"

He smiled at her. "Actually, I was just telling you... he won't say anything about you anymore." 

She furrowed her brow.

"And this," he added, while cleaning his hand with the hem of his robes, "...is not _my_ blood."

When she realized what he meant, she once again burst into tears. Harry, confused, walked up to her.

"Hey... what did I say?"

"It's just that... you're too good to me, Harry. You shouldn't have gotten hurt just for-"

She sat on the floor, her back against the bed side. He crouched in front of her. 

"-for a friend like you?" He softly finished for her. "I'd do it 10 thousand times again." 

She glanced up at him between sobs.

He suddenly remembered the handkerchief. He searched his pockets and, when he found it, he handed it to her. She took it with a shaking hand. 

"Thank you, Harry."

He smiled warmly at her. 

"Don't worry. I had to make it up to you. Merlin, I cannot believe that I actually believed-"

"No, it's okay. Actually, I *have* started to spend a lot of time with him, lately... one could've easily thought... but I swear, we only TALKED. I-I needed someone to talk to. Since- since I can't write a diary, you know..."  

She dropped her eyes, and when he understood what she meant, he slowly sighed. He felt guilty for never trying to talk to her, especially after what had happened back in second year.  He had tried many times, but couldn't come up with the subject. Mostly, because he was responsible for it. After all, it was him Voldemort was after.

"I mean it." She said again.

"I know. I believe you. You really should not be apologizing, in ANY WAY. So don't." His tone was gentle but firm. He really wanted her not o feel guilty at all.

Once again she looked up at him with those huge brown eyes, and his heart tightened.

"Come on, let's just try and forget all about that stupid git, okay?"

Her sobs finally slowed down, dissolving into sniffs.

"Come on, now..." he said, as softly as he could, while slowly reaching out a hand to gently touch her left shoulder. He felt her tremble under his touch, but preferred to think it was due to the fact that she was a bit nervous. 

"Hey... it's okay." He soothed her.

She stopped sniffing, and managed to control herself, even though she couldn't ignore the fact that he was actually *touching* her.

On his part, he really felt like hugging her, and decided against it only because it would probably make her uncomfortable. 

"You feeling a little better?"  he asked, hoping with all his might that she really was... perhaps because of him. *Perhaps because of me?* Where the hell had it come from? He hadn't done anything. He had believed all that crap at first, so he was in no position to feel particularly heroic only for trying to help her out.

She nodded slowly, bringing him back to reality. "Uhm. Yeah..."

He stroke her shoulder a bit. "Good"

They both fell silent. Her head slightly bent, she focused her eyes on her lap, where she kept twisting her handkerchief with her hands, and he focused his on her hair, distracted by the warm shade of red he knew so well.

Suddenly they began to feel awkward. He felt her shoulder tense, and didn't know what to do: pull her into his arms or letting go completely?

Then it downed on him. She was alone, and probably frightened. She desperately needed someone she could trust, someone who wouldn't turn her down, like Dean had done. Someone who would listen to her, or just stay with her, without talking. He would act exactly the way he would if she were Hermione, or any other friend of his. 

She was feeling so awkward! He was so close and that hand on her shoulder... it is so out of character for him, she thought, it's not like him to get so close to me.. He finally pulled his hand away. She knew he'd get up and leave soon, and prepared to find herself alone again. Then he did something unexpected.  He sat down next to her, his back –like hers– against the bed side. He brought up his knees, then rested his elbows on them. She slowly, hesitatingly did the same, although she didn't know where this was leading to. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Briefly glancing up at him, she noticed he looked deeply lost in thought. A pretty weird  situation, she'd put herself into... indeed. Only two years before she'd have DIED to be this close to him...

But now... now everything was different. Or was it? Well, Harry had gotten pretty close to Cho, and although they were not officially together, and neither ot them would ever speak about that, everyone thought and believed they were.

Ginny had learned how to hide her feelings towards him a lot better, and not only to him, but to everyone else, including herself, and she'd found she could deal with him being with Cho a little more. It was sort of... bearable. 

Of course, some things had remained the same over the years. They –namely Harry, Hermione, and her own brother Ron– still thought of her as the 'little girl', the 'little sister', and never spoke to her about their secret adventures. She always had to learn about them from the roumors who often circulated at school... That had always gotten her pretty angry, but lately she'd managed to accept is a fact, and was trying to get over it.

Part of it consisted in trying to know more other people; besides Neville, who was already a friend of hers, there came Seamus, Colin, and of course her hugest mistake, DeanThomas. That, that – GIT! How dare he....

She frowned, and threw her handkerchief to the opposite side of the room.

"You okay?" She looked up, only to find Harry's wonderful green eyes studying her, and they told her he was really concerned. 

"Uhm, oh... yes. I was just-" She felt once again like a stupid silly child, and besides she'd probably interrupted his thoughts. 

"..oh, never mind. Hey..."  her eyes had fallen to the clock hanging on the wall opposite to her. "DinIt is almost past dinnertime! Sorry for keeping you here so long... go on..." She said, motioning him to stand up.

He didn't move. 

She felt the words rush off her tongue before she was able to stop them; they came out in a whisper.

"Come on, Cho's probably looking for you..."

At this, he looked a bit taken aback, but quickly hid whatever feeling that sentence had awoken in him. 

"So what" he answered in a low voice, his expression blank.

"Nothing, I just thought, you know... you usually sit together during meals, and... I figured you wanted to –to be with her because it's dinertime, and..." He paused a moment, then sighed, leaning back against the bed side. 

"And what makes you think that she's my girlfriend?"

Ginny's breath caught in her throat, and she didn't manage to reply straight away. 

"I –I didn't mean to say anything... it's okay. Cho is really a nice girl and I'm sure..." he cut her off with a wave of his hand. 

"No. I meant, we are not together. Is that what you think?"

"Uh" She was beginning to feel really awkward once more. "I'm afraid that's what everyone thinks" she murmured.

"Oh, is that so...." he said to himself, as if considering the fact for the first time.

"You don't need to worry, I won't tell anyone, even if-" Harry took a deep breath. 

"Well, I think I should go. If you wanna be alone..." He stood up, straightened his robes and exited the room. 

He stopped right outside the door, and stood there, still.

"That's what everyone thinks..." her voice kept ringing in his head. 

Right. People were more interested in the roumors of romance to ask themselves why he'd started spending time with Cho. 

Well, let them believe their silly beliefs, he thought, then walked back down the stairs. Instead of heading for the Great Hall though, he just went up to his own dorm.

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Okay... and the second chapter is up. 

Please let me know what you think! R&R!  J 


	3. nightmare

So...  I'm uploading a new chapter, but I need to say something first...

1) FIRST OF ALL... THANKS TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) I know this stuff about Ginny having nightmeres with Tom Riddle in them is not very original, therefore I want to apologize to any author who already wrote about this. I must admit that I read a couple of fanfics in which this subject was chosen, and those may have actually affected my story. 

So if any of these authors feels offended by what I've written here, please, just say so, and I'll edit the chapter and come up with a nother solution. Okay? 

3) This is a mere question... when you want to enter your Common Room, you must speak the password... but what about when you want to exit it? Do you have to say the password that way too?

Here we go:

Chapter 3

Ginny remained there, paralyzed, for nearly half an hour. What did it mean, they were not together? If she'd stopped babbling and had just kept her silly mouth shut, maybe he would've told her more... he really looked like he needed someone to talk to. But that's not possible, she thought. Harry had Ron, and Hermione, and so many ither friends.... what was his problem? That really didn't make sense.

SHE was the one who had turned to a secret diary in order to find someone, "something" that would for once listen about her problems, her dreams, her hopes and disappointments...

After a while, tired of staying there, thinking about him over and over again, she decided to sneak down to the Common Room and have something to eat, although she would probably only find some sweets, or candies.

And that she found. She started chewing some chocolate frogs while distracting herself by sketching some drawings on her notebook. Everyone was at dinner, so she didn't have to worry about people sneaking up on her or something.

A little later she realized she was drawing Harry. Wow, it had been nearly a year since she had last drawn of him. Odd. Very odd. She'd used to cover every little piece of paper she could find with sketches of him, and a couple of times she'd almost been caught by some o her roomates... But now... she'd turned her attention to books, friends, and had somehow managed to quit that disturbing habit. What if he himself found one? It would be too embarassing...

She began feeling sort of tired, but that soon changed to sleepy. Her lids, now heavy, began to close slowly. She tried to resist that overwhelming sensation a bit, then decided to give in. After all, she really needed a good sleep...

Some time later, she couldn't tell if it was one hour or just a few moments, she found herself in some place dark. Really dark. It was pitch-black, and she couldn't see anything. Then, slowly, a shadow shifted in the distance. 

"Who are you?" she tried to speak, but found out she couldn't. The shadow approached, and she began to see it a bit more clearly. It was a guy.... a tall, dark-haired guy, dressed up with school robes.  Who was he? A strange feeling stirred inside of her, and she istinctively retreated.

She tried to step back, but suddenly felt the cool, hard surface of a wall against her back. She was trapped! Then she recognized the dark figured in front of her. 

"Tom?" it came out in a whisper barely audible. The boy looked straight at her, his eyes burning in hers.

"Yes, Ginny... I've come back. I've come back for _him_..."

"What? For him?"

"Yes, my silly, childish little girl... killing you wouldn't be half as fun as... killing Potter, now, would it? After all, you are nothing. Just a-"

"Please! Leave us be... Go away! Harry!" Once again she couldn't get the words out of her mouth. He seemed to understand though.

"Oh, don't be foolish, little Ginny. You can't do anything to stop me this time... I will use you to get to him, it won't be difficult... I've controlled you before... you're like an _open book_ to me." He flashed her an evil grin.

"No, please... let me go..." He slowly shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Begging for your life, now, Ginny? But what id your life compared to his? Wouldn't you sacrifice yourself for the sake of him? Aren't you ready to give me your life *willingly*, in order to save his?"

Ginny was terrified. Had she been rational, she'd have screamed "YES! YES, I would! I am!", but she was petrified with fear.

"How disappointing, Ginny... I though more of you, you know..."

"Leave him alone..."  she managed to say weakly. She tried to sneak away from him, but he wouldn't let her. Instead, he came even closer, his face inches from hers. 

"Such a pity that I can't have a little time with you..." Tom suddenly morphed into...

"Dean!"  she cried out in surprise. 

"You silly little girl! Always after Potter! Haven't you realized that you can't have him? But then again, why choose a guy that'll never look at you instead of someone who really cares?"

"You are just an idiot, Dean! You call what you did "caring"? I could never even *like* you! Not after-" her voice trailed off.

"We'll see..." he said before morphing back to Tom. His eyes dagged hers, as he slowly but firmly reached out a hand to touch her face, then her shoulder. 

"Did you like the way he touched you, Ginny? Or, better..." He morphed to Harry, and he looked deeply at her. "...Did you like the way *I* touched you?" She had never felt so helpless in her entire life, she had no idea on how to stop this from happening.

Harry once again became Tom, but his hand never left her shoulder.

"You know, I could make you feel just as well, if you only gave me a chance..."

"No, no, get away!!" she struggled to break free. In response, he began to shake her violently by her shoulders.

She started to say something, but her vision blurred and she was shoved back to reality. Someone was quietly shaking her. "Leave me alone!" She screamed, "I want you to leave me alone!" She slammed her eyes open, and found herself facing....

"H-Harry?" He was looking at her, and seemed rather worried. He pulled away his hands."I came out of my dorm and found you here. You were tossing and turning and... how are you feeling?"

Catching her breath, she replied "Uh- fine."

"Having a nightmere, were you?"

"Sort of" She was still shaking badly.

"Listen, I didn't mean to... but I think you should go back to your dorm, people will soon start coming back here.... and I suggest you to hide abit, until all that –crap– has settled down a bit. Uh, meaning the whole Dean stuff..."

"Thanks" she said, "but my roommates will start bothering me anyways... they'll think it's funny."

"Oh."

"They're gonna ask me all kinds of embarassing questions like 'how does he kiss?' and so on..."

She blushed slightly while saying that. He seemed a bit uncomfrotable himself.

"But don't worry!" she tried to sound cheerful. "It will still be better than dreaming of that Camber of-" She stopped dead. He froze too. 

"I meant—" she tried to regain her composure. "I meant, dreaming of that – room, at the –uh- Burrow, and..." But he wasn't going to buy it. 

"You were dreaming of the –Chamber?" 

"Actually..." she looked down at her lap. "It doesn't happen quite often, you know..." Merlin, did she just say that? This conversationwas leading where she didn't want it to.

"So it wasn't the first time?" 

"Look, forget it. I'm fine. I was just really nervous, that's all."

He sadly smiled at her. "Look, I wanted to...  say that I am... sorry-" he began, but some noises coming from the entrance interrupted him.

"Did you _hear_?" was saying a second-year girl to a group of her friends, "Do you really think those two did _nothing_ in the forest?" Another girl answered for her. 

"Oh, I bet they _did_... Dean after all is *so* good-looking..."  They both started giggling.

A boy let out a 'eeew', and then said, "Well, she isn't that bad herself, you know..."

Another girl joined the conversation.

"Mmm. Did you see the way Harry _revenged_ her? That was *so* _romantic_..." 

At this Ginny's breath caught in her throat, and she felts her cheeks turn bright red. Even Harry winced.

"What are you talking about..." said another boy, "She's been after him for _years_, but all he can think about is Cho..." now she felt her cheeks whiten, and was about to abruptly stop that outrageous conversation, when she felt a calm hand placed on her arm.

She turned to look at him questioningly. His expression was blank, unreadable, as it had been in Ginny's room when they'd started talking about Cho. He gave her a meaningful look, and put a finger to his lips, warning her not to say anything. Then he pulled her to her feet, stepped closer to her and spread something that looked like a blanket over them both.

She wanted to say something, but just then the boys and girls came into view. We must look so stupid!, she thought. And why was Harry so close to her? Then she understood. The guys looked straight through them, and kept on talking as if they hadn't noticed them. Harry must have an invisibility cloak! But how...? They were so difficult to find in shops... 

His hand still clasped to her arm, he gently led her towards the Portrait of the Fat Lady, then made sure no one was looking their way, whispered the password and they both stepped outside. He was about to pull it off, when they saw Ron, Hermione, Neville and Seamus approaching. He put a hand on her mouth to prevent her from calling after them and led her along the corridor, until they came out of view. 

He finally took the cloak off and started to fold it, as if nothing had happened.

"Where did you find an Invisibility Cloak? I mean-"

"Oh. It's an old gift from someone who knew my father."

She'd seen one in a shop window once, and had wondered how it would be to be able to use one. Of course, the Weasleys could not afford one, let alone Ginny. She hated being poor!

"So. Why did you-"

"Well, I thought I'd save us both from a –let's say- *unpleasant* situation... you know, second years can be so..." he gestured with his hands, and she managed a small smile. To be honest with herself though, she had to admit that the situation was unpleasant BRCAUSE of her. If they had left out the part of her drooling after him, it'd have been much better. Instead, they'd made a fool of her, and they were two years younger than her! She suddenly felt the urge to break something...

"Once again, thanks, I guess" she was about to smile, turn on her heels and get away -quickly!-, when she noticed he was staring at her intently.

"You still dream of it?" his tone was grave, and deadly serious.

She looked around, shifting uncomfortably. 

"Nope" She was obviously lying. His expression softened a bit. 

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Uh?" She looked up at him. "I-I'd rather not, thank you" She shuddered at the memory. They suddenly heard footsteps coming from the end of the corridor.  Harry rolled his eyes, and began once more to unfold the cloak.

"Let's get someplase where we can be *alone*, shall we", he suggested, and before she could reply, he'd once more walked up toher, draping the cloak over them.

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Alright, I know this was a bit short...

But I'm busy with school and all..

Next Chapter, there will be more of the famous Slytherin boy... sorry, couldn't help it, I like him too much... J

Please R&R!! J


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